Pokémon Go Shared Skies update: All balance changes in Go Battle League

Find all buffs and nerfs made in the new Go Battle League season

Niantic

A brand-new season of Pokémon Go Battle League beckons: Shared Skies will begin on June 3, 2024, at 10am PT, bringing a whole host of balance changes to the mobile game’s PvP mode in the form of buffs and nerfs to moves as well as making some attacks available to Pokémon that didn’t have access to them before. Both types of changes can have massive influence on which teams are effective in Go Battle League’s many competitions, so any seasoned competitor will want to keep an eye on these developments to keep up with the meta trends.

We’re making things easy for you by collecting all the changes made in the Pokémon Go Shared Skies update and breaking down their potential consequences.

Pokémon Go Shared Skies update: patch notes

The following changes have been made to moves:

• Scald: Chance to lower the opposing Pokémon’s Attack decreased.
• Spark: Power reduced from 6 to 5.
• Seed Bomb: Power increased from 60 to 65.
• Swift: Power decreased from 60 to 55; Energy cost decreased.

The following availability updates have been made:

• Thunder Punch (Charged Attack) is now available on: Typhlosion, Riolu, Lucario, Scraggy, Scrafty, Chesnaught, Pawmo, and Pawmot.
• Counter (Fast Attack) is now available on: Lokix.
• Powder Snow (Fast Attack) is now available on: Cetoddle and Cetitan.
• Dragon Claw (Charged Attack) is now available on: Naganadel.
• Swift (Charged Attack) is now available on: Clefairy, Clefable, Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Teddiursa, Ursaring, and Ursaluna.
• Fly (Charged Attack) is now available on: Fearow, Salamence, Swoobat, and Swanna.

Thunder Punch isn’t a massive game changer for most of the Pokémon receiving it, but can do some great things for Typhlosion, Scraggy and – in more limited fashion – Lucario. The Fighting Pokémon benefit from some anti-Flying coverage, which is especially valuable in Ultra League, while Typhlosion finally gets a cheap Charged Attack it can generate the necessary Energy for with two uses of Incinerate. This means it can burn through enemy shields much faster than before and has something to threaten Water-types with.

When it comes to upgrades, then Powder Snow on Cetoddle and Cetitan is definitely one: The Fast Attack is straight-up better than Ice Shard and propels the two Pokémon upwards.

The Seed Bomb change should see Trevenant – the terrifying Grass- and Ghost-type that got the move nerfed in the first place – gain a little bit of its former strength again, but it shouldn’t reclaim its old dominance with this buff alone.

Swift is likely not going to move the needle for anyone and the same – more surprisingly, since it’s such a powerful move – goes for Fly. Dragon Claw on Naganadel is unlikely to be a drastic game changer for the creature as well.

Spark being nerfed will hurt some Electro-types, most notably Lanturn against which this nerf is likely directed, but it will remain to be seen how much collateral damage this change will cause. The Scald nerf is definitely going to put a dent into its most prominent users’ rankings as well, so expect Pokémon like Poliwrath to rank a little lower going forward.